Dr. Frederick M. Hueston, PhD

Over the past 40 years, I thought I had seen everything. Today would prove me wrong.

I was sitting at my favorite greasy spoon, listening to the Admiral while reading the newspaper. Yes, folks, there is still a thing called a newspaper. There’s something about reading the news on paper rather than getting it on my smartphone that appeals to me. Maybe this is dating me as belonging to an older generation, but it was always a tradition growing up. I was reading the opinion page, and this person was talking about the fairy tale Chicken Little. You know, the one where he keeps yelling that the sky is falling. This guy was digging into the current social relevance of this fairy tale when my phone rang. The voice on the other end was a lady, and she was crying and mumbling something like, “The tiles are falling!” I thought I heard her wrong, but I just listened as she went on and on. Finally, she calmed down and told me that she was waiting for her car insurance company to come by and assess the accident. “What?” I said. “What does your auto insurance have to do with tiles falling?” She told me that I needed to be there when the insurance adjuster arrived so I could explain. I thought maybe she was a little confused, or she had been drinking or smoking something strong. I got the address and asked her when she needed me to be there. She said 1 pm. She was only an hour away, so that was doable.

I arrived at her house and noticed several people standing around a car parked with several vans nearby. One belonged to an auto glass repair person, and the other was a tow truck. I was really confused at this point, but as I said before, I thought I had seen it all. 

I got out of the old Woody and walked over to see what all the fuss was about. The minute I walked over there, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a large stone panel sticking out of the windshield of the car, with broken pieces all over the ground.

 Now I understood why she wanted me there.

The slabs were installed using what the industry calls the ‘dab method.’ In other words, they place little dabs of mortar on the substrate and then place the stone.

I looked up at the side of the building, and sure enough, there were empty spaces where the panel had fallen. It was obvious why it had failed, so I told her and the insurance adjuster the following. The slabs were installed using what the industry calls the ‘dab method.’ In other words, they place little dabs of mortar on the substrate and then place the stone. The problem with this method is that it is not a recognized or code-approved method and can lead to all kinds of problems. First and foremost, panels of this nature on the outside of a building should be mechanically anchored and not just adhered with setting mortar. Later, I would also discover that the wrong setting mortar was used. “I bet this was a low bidder job,” I thought.

I told her I would write up a report, but she needed to contact her homeowner’s insurance as well and possibly an attorney. Another case solved, and now every time I hear the Chicken Little tale, I will think of this situation. Luckily, no one got hurt. 


The Stone Detective is a fictional character created by Dr. Frederick M. Hueston, PhD, written to entertain and educate. Dr. Fred has written over 33 books on stone and tile installations, fabrication and restoration and also serves as an expert for many legal cases across the world.  Send your comments to fhueston@stoneforensics.com.